1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a waste treatment system for separating particulate matters from an influent carrier, and more particularly pertains to a perforated plate for maintaining widely different hydrodynamic conditions in specific compartments of a separator assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many state of the art waste treatment systems for separating solids from a suspension generally operate in the following simplified version: An influent is received at either a top or lower section of a settling tank; a coagulant for promoting flocculation and agglomeration of the suspensions is added to the influent either before or after the influent enters the settling tank; the influent and coagulant are mixed to achieve agglomeration of the suspensions; heavy suspensions are caused to settle by either gravity and/or by a mechanical device; and lastly, clarified liquids and grease are caused to rise to the top of the separator where they are withdrawn, while settled solids are disposed of at a lower section of the tank.
However, a host of problems peculiar to the above described waste treatment systems and variations thereof have been continuously hampering the operation of state of the art systems. In some cases these problems have been difficult if not impossible to completely and satisfactorily resolve. For instance, state of the art systems are still coping with difficulties in controlling convective momentum, associated with flowing currents of influent, that interferes with both the downward settlementation of suspensions in the settling tank and the concentration of suspensions in a sludge disposal area of the tank. Likewise, it has also been extremely difficult to cause very small and/or microscopic suspensions to settle during the initial stages of separation, when the coagulant is first mixed with the influent, and during the latter stages of separation, when the clarified liquids are near the top area of the tank to be withdrawn. Similarly, the dual problem of first designing a mixing compartment to receive and mix a flocculant with the influent in order to cause agglomeration of the suspension, and second to efficiently transfer the suspensions that have become agglomerated from the mixing compartment to a settling compartment without breaking up the agglomerated suspensions, has yet to be satisfactorily solved.
Thus it is an object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process for controlling and directing convective momentum to maintain widely different hydrodynamic conditions in specific compartments of the assembly, by which the efficiency of the assembly and the process are improved.
It is another object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process for directing convective momentum so that the rate of settlementation of the suspensions are improved.
It is still an object of the invention to provide a waste treatment process for transferring an influent suspension from a mixing compartment to a settling compartment without breaking up agglomerated suspensions.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process for continuously decreasing convective momentum so that particles of increasingly smaller sizes are caused to settle.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process for continuously decreasing convective momentum during all of the process cycles involved in separating particles from liquids.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process that minimizes all velocity components of convective momentum except for the vertical components of velocity while transferring the influent from a mixing compartment to a settling compartment.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process for both rapidly and slowly mixing a chemical additive with an influent suspension to respectively insure mixing of the additive and the influent and to promote agglomeration of the particulate matter.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a waste treatment process for controlling convective momentum so that the momentum does not interfere with: the settling of suspensions, the concentration of settled suspensions, and the removal of the settled suspensions.